How not to get out of Iraq.

• Author: John Handley, Colonel

In his Commentary essay, Max Boot analyzes four current proposals for the withdrawal or significant reduction of U.S. forces in Iraq. Examining each in detail, he concludes that all four fail to reinforce the already achieved, albeit limited, success of the current "surge" strategy which, as for any successful counterinsurgency warfare, is to "clear, hold, and build."

Having demonstrated the probable undesirable consequences of the withdrawal plans, Boot builds on the recent Brookings Institution report by Kenneth Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon to offer his own assessment of the surge. Like them, Boot believes the surge is already producing good results: fewer U. S. and Iraqi casualties, less sectarian violence, greater security, and more Iraqi units taking the lead in combat operations. Believing the surge is working, Boot recommends it be allowed to run its course, which means maintaining the present troop levels through the spring of 2008 and reducing them by one combat brigade per month until August 2008, when the US will have the pre-surge force of 15 combat brigades, a level sustainable through 2009.

Boot points to high troop morale, high reenlistments, and the desire of...